Hera's Plight
by Lady Fael
Summary: This is a short story of three chapters that gives some insight into Hera's world. It tells the story of how she and her siblings, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter and Hestia, defeated the Titans. Please review! [Finished]
1. Cronos's Stomach and Escape

Cronos's Stomach and Escape

**A/N: Hera is not my favorite Greek Goddess, true. But I wanted to show that Hera isn't just a mindless machine out there to kill off Zeus's loves because she's a grumpy, jealous old lady. I decided to give some more insight into her story. Here's the result. Hope you like it! Please review.  
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When we sprang, fully-grown, from our father's stomach, we were happy to be alive. Nothing else mattered. Demeter had started to feel so cooped up and frustrated that flowers began to crop up in Cronos's inside. They cheered the place up for everyone but grumpy Hades, who wilted them and complained. Hestia wanted to try to burn our way out, but we all agreed that wouldn't work very well. Poseidon was all for flooding Kronos's stomach and in time the fickle Titan might throw it up and us as well. No one wanted that. While they all discussed ways to get us out of our fleshy, unpleasant prison, I sat in a corner and hugged my knees to my chest, watching the acid water lap at my bare ankles and hating everything about this place: The smell – it reeked of countless disgusting things – the feel – it was the most unpleasant thing I would ever feel – and the atmosphere, which was tense and stressful. Even though I wanted out of our father's stomach as much as, if not more, than my siblings, I had no ideas and all I could do was feel miserable.

'Hera, don't sit there like a piece of Cronos's digested food and come help us plan a way out!' Hades growled at me. But all I could do was close my eyes and hug my knees tighter; I hated it here more than all of them combined. I hated it so much it clouded my mind and I couldn't think. Why couldn't we have had a normal father? One who didn't _swallow _his _children_ for fear that they would steal his throne? We wanted none of that. And besides, why did he have to swallow his daughters as well as his sons? It was a son that was prophesied to overthrow him! But, I thought maliciously, if and when I got out of here, I would attempt to take his throne, in revenge. By swallowing me he had created his enemy. If he had only loved his children…

'Hera! We need your ideas too,' Poseidon's voice lapped and then crashed over me like a wave. But I shook my head at him and huddled closer into myself. Myself. It was all I had left. I was miserable and we would never get out of here. We had been trying for close to a thousand years and I knew better than they did that we had no hope. It was all over, we would be here for ever, why even try? Hopeless…

As though she had read my mind, my kind sister Demeter's voice echoed in the hollowness that was our father's stomach. She inched toward me and whispered words for me alone. 'Hera, I know it seems hopeless. You have always been the one to give up first, to fall into despair before the rest of us. But it's not hopeless! Winter feels hopeless, but then spring always comes. Always! And so our freedom is guaranteed. It will come.' Leaning in even closer to me to make absolutely sure no one heard, Demeter added, 'Have you noticed we are three, but our brothers are only two? There is someone who has not been swallowed yet. And he will help set us free.' Her word washed over me like spring washes over and diminishes winter, and they erased some of my most hopeless thoughts. It seemed like we would never get out, ever, but during winter it seemed like spring would never come. Yet it did, year after year, without fail. Sometimes it was delayed, true, but it was always worth the wait.

Raising my head, I let my eyes meet Demeter's soft brown ones. She had a pleasing smile on her face that warmed me the way the weather warms when summer arrives and overtakes spring. Somehow she was able to smile and even laugh in this dismal place. Her golden curls bounced freely as she sat up from the crouching position she had assumed to comfort me and walked back over to our siblings. Swiping angrily at my tears, I joined them and finished their circle. As I sat down next to my sister Demeter, she squeezed my hand and flashed me another warming smile. I had filled an empty space. But next to me there was another one, next to Poseidon. Could what Demeter had said to me be more than comforting words? Was there really another brother who would come help us?

'As you know, we have been here for a long time and someone should come help us soon. They haven't yet, however, and so we should stand up for ourselves and try our own means of getting out of here. Now, I personally think we should-' Poseidon's commanding voice was interrupted by the regular sound of gulping that we heard as Cronos ate his food. But there was also a gagging sound this time and some heaves. Looking up and breaking the circle by jumping to our feet, we watched a few green leaves drift nonchalantly to our feet. Picking one up, Demeter yelled over the retching noises.

'It's a leaf from a Ginso tree. If you eat it you-' Demeter's words were stopped as she let out a scream of fright; a huge wave advanced on us. I let my voice join hers in screaming and covered my head with my arms as the wave overtook us. Our screams, as well as Hestia's attempts to calm us, bubbled on our lips and died as we were plunged underneath the liquid. My arms were pulled away from my head by the force of the wave and I attempted to swim, flailing wildly. Bubbles were wrenched from my mouth and the air I had in my lungs began to dwindle and fade…

Then suddenly my head was shoved above the water and I bobbed, spluttering and gasping and looking around me in amazement; we were no longer inside of our father. We were…We were free! I wanted to shout my jubilation, but the wave grabbed me and pushed me roughly under once again. This time I was even more unprepared and my eyes were open, looking around me at the water in which I had been carried out of my dreaded prison. There were the two leaves of the Ginso tree, which I realized must have properties to make a being retch, and I stretched out a hand to grab at them, but they were pulled by the strong current away from my groping hands. I could see the rock wrapped in a baby's cloth that had fallen into Cronos's stomach beside us, but the blanket had been ripped away from the rock by the force of the wave and floated freely beside me. For that I did not reach out my hand, but pulled it away.

And there was Demeter, not even bothering to flail her limbs as I had, hanging as though lifeless, suspended by the water, her hair floating behind her. I wanted to swim over and help her, see if she was still alive, but the wave was still too strong. I struggled against the powerful water, trying to shout out to my older sister to hold on; I would be there as soon as I could. But the words didn't get far past my lips once they had been released, and I gave up. I could not save Demeter. But I could save myself. I could feel that the air I had left in my lungs being slowly teased and pulled away from me, and I knew I had to fight. It was winter but spring was in view. Vainly I struggled against the liquid, trying to bring myself back to the surface I had a hard time believing existed at all. Maybe I was outside of the prison that my father's stomach posed as, but I had been flung into another. Soon I felt as though I would end up as Demeter, who had been pulled away from me. Not being able to see her was even more worrying than seeing her in such a state. I was beginning to lose all hope of the surface or of spring.

As I flailed hopelessly, all the while fighting, I watched, panicking, as my siblings floated past. Hades seemed to be letting himself sink, and I wanted to help him as he gently fell to the bottom as quickly as a rock and stayed there, making no effort to bring himself to the surface. Hestia looked utterly defeated; water had always been her weakness and fires her pleasure. It looked as though she was trying to claw her way to the surface, but she was sinking just like Hades all the while through her efforts. I wanted to reach out to my sister, even though she had never been very compassionate to me, reserved and a little mysterious. I loved her all the same. At that moment I loved everything, especially the little air I had left. How could I not, as my life was tottering on the edge of the cliff of life and would soon fall into the pit of death?

And then Poseidon came. He was holding on to the water as though it were a rein, a huge smile on his face, his long, curly dark hair flying out behind him. Strangely, my outspoken older brother was standing upright and looked very in control. Well, he had always loved the water. I saw that he had Demeter cradled tenderly in his arms and Hestia holding on to his ankles. It appeared he didn't see me, flailing, trying and succeeding to get near the surface. I was almost there when he passed underneath me and the force he created sent me spinning, losing control. My arms and legs were wrenched painfully as I was pulled toward the ground, and I could no longer even wave them around in imitation of swimming. I watched as Poseidon, far ahead of me now, picked up an unconscious Hades and made as if to look for me. But again he did not see me. I was afraid that it didn't matter, because I was already falling from the cliff of life and plunging into the pit of death….

People say that when you are dying your life flashes in front of your eyelids. I did not have much of a life to hold on to as I watched some grim scenes appear before me: There was us huddled together in Cronos's stomach as a particularly large morsel of food fell toward us. Us cowering as a rock wrapped in a blanket that looked faintly like a baby fell in our midst and almost crushed Demeter's skull. Us trying to talk about something cheerful and failing. Us planning. Us sobbing. Us giving up hope…At least I would die free, I thought. And then the pleasant scenes came: Demeter's huge smile and her soft, wide brown eyes appraising me and her lovely features laughing, cheering me up. Her bright golden curls bouncing up and down on her little shoulders. Hestia's dark eyes looking over me approvingly, her thin lips twitching into a smile, an unusual event. Her dark features brightening up as I said something she found funny. Her black-as-midnight hair sweeping my cheek faintly and pleasantly as she passed by. Poseidon's deep, green-blue eyes wide and excited, his bright features laughing, his long brown hair and his small beard floating around him as he summoned water for his own pleasure. Hades' black, black hair and the beard that grew only on his face whipping past as he paced. His beady black eyes looking gloomy. His thin lips stretched into a sneer as Poseidon suggested the possibility of escaping. And then the reflection of me that I had once seen in the water floating in Cronos's stomach: my light brown, slightly wavy, falling limply to my shoulders. My full, blood red lips pulled into a miserable frown. My cheeks full but not pudgy. My eyes a bright yet tainted green-bue like a peacock's feathers. I didn't know what pretty or beautiful was, but I supposed I could be one of those if only I could be happy.

So I tried hard, I made an effort, to be happy that I was out of that prison, happy that I would die free. Have you ever tried being happy just before you die? It doesn't work. I supposed that I would have to die unhappy. People would crowd around my body and declare, 'If she had managed to be happy like that golden-haired girl over there, she could have been pretty.' I tried to smile as I struggled to remain conscious. Maybe I succeeded, I don't know, but I knew it would only look ridiculous to have a smile on my face when I was so clearly unhappy. But that was ridiculous. I was fighting now against death, which I had no reason to hate, but I could not fight back in the prison of my father's stomach, something I hated so much. I had simply given into limp submission. And just before I could hold on to consciousness no longer, I vowed to myself that if I lived, or maybe even in the after-life, I would always fight things I knew were unjust.

And then, all at once, I was hit by an epiphany so strong, I managed to overcome the creeping feeling washing over me that would bring unconsciousness: What an empty vow if I just gave up and lay there, waiting for death! Everything I had ever known was unjust: The fact that my own father had swallowed me, the sad truth of how my mother didn't stop him, the terrible place I had been forced to stay in for a thousand miserable years, the awful conditions I lived with, and now _this. _There was so much to fight for! My life would not end this way as long as I still had it in my hands. And I did. My eyes flew open and I started to struggle once more, but this time I didn't flail just for the sake of trying to get free; I made wide arcs like sweeps with my arms, pointing them forward and making sure my head was toward the surface, kicked my feet in rhythm instead of completely at random. Soon I could feel I was making progress, getting closer, even though in a few moments my lungs would burst, and in a few more I would fall unconscious, and then drop dead to the ground, claimed by the water.

I wasn't very far from the surface, quite close in fact, when I felt the second, more powerful internal waves claim me, try to pull me into unconsciousness as the last of the breath I had left in my feeble yet struggling body evaporated. But no, I would not give up until my body completely failed me and I no longer had any control. As long as I could do something, I would. I could feel my eyelids flickering, my eyes closing, my body breaking down and failing me, when the tip of my fingertips broke free of the water; they had reached the surface, if not my whole body. Soon I had managed to push my whole hand above the water, and that was when a huge shudder shook me and my body fell completely limp, the hand falling back into the liquid as my body slowly made its way to the bottom. I had been so close…No one could say, at least, that I had died without trying my hardest to save myself. That was all that mattered.


	2. Zeus

Zeus

I had only the smallest shard of consciousness remaining, not enough to keep me fighting, not enough to realize I was dying, but enough to alert me to the fact that something strong and warm had gripped me around the waist and I was steadily rising instead of slowly but surely falling. I let my head loll back against a human chest, wanting to help my savior by kicking my legs or waving my arms again, but the icy fingers of death had their firm grip on my throat and would not let go, rendering me weaker than a lamb. For some strange reason, as I felt death's cold breath on my face an image of Hades scowling found its way into my mind and showed itself on the inside of my eyelids. A small smile flit around my lips; Hades was a gloomy boy, but why would I associate him with death? I didn't hate him. He was my brother and, quite the opposite, I loved him.

Suddenly I felt my head burst above the water and I had the faint thought that I could take a breath now if I wanted to, but I still couldn't, somehow, and why bother when this blackness had almost succeeded in completely enveloping me? And then there was the warm body I was pressed against, the one bringing me out of the water. Suddenly I was no longer in water but had been lifted into the arms of this mysterious person and was being carried. As soon as we were completely out of the water I was placed on solid ground and my strange savior was pressing on my chest, trying to make me breath. And then all of a sudden I could feel water rising from somewhere in my chest, coming up to my mouth faster and faster as the figure trying to make me breathe again pushed down. In one abrupt moment the liquid was in my mouth and it was all I could do not to gag. I opened my mouth to let the flow of liquids pass, and when it was completely gone I took a deep, shuddery breath, was racked with coughs, and then fell still. But there had been a very big change, even if my savior didn't think so and kept on trying to revive me: The breath was flowing through me again, if not smoothly and deeply. I made an effort to take in a big enough breath so this new person would hear, and then let it out as smoothly as I could. As hard as I had tried, though, it came out sounding like a rattle and I was racked with coughs once again. Pulling me into a sitting position, this new, mysterious person pressed their – his! – mouth against mine in order to help me breathe easily again. After repeating this embarrassing feat a few times, he was satisfied that my breaths were deep enough and regular, and laid my head back against the ground.

Taking in a huge breath, I beat back the last waves of unconsciousness that lapped at my ankles. Letting it out calmly, I slowly opened my eyes, propped myself on an exhausted elbow that barely took my weight, and looked around. It was the first time I realized that I was naked. Demeter, Hestia, Hades and Poseidon were too, of course; where could we possibly have gotten clothes? But I blushed until my whole face was pink to be around people who noticed and cared. The second thing I saw were my siblings: Demeter had been laid on a towel and was covered with a cloth, breathing deeply but unconscious. Hades lay beside her in the same condition, shivering. Hestia was the worst off, however; she was propped up against a wall, sitting on a soft towel and covered with a similar cloth to those Hades and Demeter wore to cover themselves, but her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged, and she was shuddering every time the water touched her, lapping gently at her bare feet. Poseidon was a very different matter: He was standing tall and proud, hands on hips and surveying the water with satisfaction, almost as though he wanted to leap back in. His eyes were wide open and his breathing was completely normal. He had been made to wear a simple tunic with a belt-strap to keep it attached to his bulky, muscular body.

The third thing I noticed made me gasp with incredulity: At my feet, on his knees, looking at me with genuine concern posed the man who had saved me. Strapped to his back was a quiver full of thunderbolts, and I knew he could use them, too. He was wearing a tunic very much like the one Poseidon had been given, but his was a light blue and embroidered with small yellow thunderbolts around the edges. It reached his knees and the start of his shoulders, therefore not revealing the muscular chest I knew was beneath it. The tunic was dry, which meant he had just put it on, which meant he'd taken it off to save me, which meant he'd been as naked as I was then and there when he pulled me out of the water. I bushed deeper.

The man's hair was dark and wavy, reaching down to the place where Nike's wings sprout, and he had tied it back into a horse-tail using a simple yellow band. He had a very slight beard that did not grow past his chin, a long but majestic nose, and a mouth with full lips that pulled into a smile of relief when I sat up. His eyes were a deep, deep blue of the sky, seeming to reflect clouds and the power that a Lord of the Skies could possess. And he was Lord of the Skies, he was Lord of Everything. He was my savior, he was a hero, he was my siblings' savior, and he was my third brother. He filled the gap in our circle and suddenly I felt a power unlike any I had ever felt before. We could defeat our father together, and we could rule together in our parents' places.

'Here, you might want this,' my brother pointed out to me with a mischievous grin, pulling a blood red tunic embroidered with golden apples around the edges that he had pulled from a pile. 'Golden apple for the most beautiful of all,' he whispered to me, leaning in close so only I would hear. 'Have you heard the tale?'

My heart was beating so fiercely as he was so near me that I wanted to say, 'Yes!' and talk to him about it, but all I could say, truthfully, was, 'I didn't hear much of anything while living in Cronos's stomach,' sarcastically. For some reason my brother laughed at that, throwing back his gorgeous head and whipping his dark hair backward. When he looked down at me again his eyes were twinkling. He reached down a hand to fondly brush one dripping strand of my light brown hair behind an ear. My heart felt as though it would explode at that pleasing touch, and I wanted to catch his passing fingers and hold them. But I didn't; even Goddesses have inhibitions.

'I'm sorry I couldn't rescue you sooner,' my brother said, turning away from me to talk to all of us, every last drenched one of us. 'I would have if I could have. And if I could do it all over again I would make sure it wasn't so messy.' I smiled at that, looking around at the small lake that had been created. But the only other one to smile was Poseidon, as Demeter, Hades and Hestia were in no fit state. 'I think you should know, too, that we can't die,' he continued, throwing me a look as though he knew that was what I thought had been happening to me while I nearly drowned. 'We can experience pain and we can be hurt, but dying is out of our reach. So you have nothing to fear.' Can't die? I reflected to myself. Then that meant…'Our parents were Titans, and we are Gods.' Gods…I was a Goddess? 'But the Titans are our tyrants and they claim to rule over us. Let's teach them better. Let's show them what happens when they mistreat their own children this way!' Poseidon let out a cheer, thrusting his right arm toward the heavens, and it brought the rest of my siblings back to consciousness like a cure. Hestia spit out some water and looked alive, Hades' cheeks looked a little fuller, and Demeter's curls bounced again. I wanted to cheer too, cheer for our brother, but there were still doubts that bit at my heels like pursuing hounds.

Where was our heroic brother while we suffered? Why was he not swallowed, too? Had our mother Rhea cared more for him than for us, the rest of her children? Was he even our brother? And how were we supposed to defeat our parents? They were much, much stronger! And once the Titans were defeated…Who would rule? But that much I knew; it was obvious that our new brother wanted to be the King after Cronos was put down, and I knew none of us would begrudge him the position after all he had done for us. Looking across the small expanse of water for the first time, I saw a massive figure, easily towering over us, standing on the other bank, watching us resentfully. His features were twisted with hate and fear, as though he wanted to rip our hearts out for even thinking of overthrowing him. And every beat my heart pounded out was out of hatred for him. For our so called father who had swallowed us, only caring for himself and nothing for his children. Why have children at all, then? Beside this giant I could see our mother, Rhea, with her long dark hair and her concerned smile. She pretended to look at us in horror as Cronos was doing, but I knew she loved us. And I would regret what we had to do to her.

Suddenly overcome by another question, I turned toward the man after putting on the new tunic and demanded, 'Who are you anyway?' Immediately after the words left my impertinent mouth, I wanted to grab at them and stuff them back. Gulping, I watched him for signs of hatred. But he simply laughed again.

'Ah, my courageous sister! I am, of course, your youngest brother, son of Cronos,' he spat out the word as though it were poison, 'and Rhea,' he finished, softening. 'I was raised in secret for the purpose of getting revenge on our father. And my name is Zeus,' he added as an afterthought. All suspicions thrust aside, I stood up and walked over to stand beside him.

'Hera,' I told him, looking him straight in his marvelous eyes. 'My name is Hera.' I was only slightly shorter than him, but I felt a little ridiculous all the same, wearing that tunic, which barely reached below my knees. How improper! Whoever had made it intended it for someone shorter than I was. But, his eyes crinkling up in laughter again, Zeus reached down and pulled at the hem of the tunic, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

'It fits you just right,' he told me, keeping a straight face. Then his mouth twitched and he exploded into laughter again, my melodious, tinkling laugh joining his deep below. Slowly my other siblings raised themselves from their vulnerable positions and stood up on wobbly, uncertain legs to join us.

'Poseidon,' my brother told Zeus, patting him on the back, his whole face smiling.

'Hades,' my solemn older brother informed him, reaching out a hand to shake.

'Hestia,' my mysterious older sister announced feebly, walking over to Zeus.

'Demeter,' my favorite sister said, weakly, her curls bouncing as she walked but her voice a bit more subdued than usual. I watched helplessly as Zeus' eyes swept over Demeter's graceful figure approvingly, and something was triggered behind them. I felt a nauseating feeling pricking at my insides, something unpleasant. But as soon as Zeus turned his bright blue eyes on me, it melted. Everything melted.

'And brave, outspoken Hera, fighting to the very end for what is right,' Zeus whispered to me, only me, briefly taking my fingertips in his and then letting them drop. Every beat my heart thudded out was now for the love of him, not for the hate I felt toward my father. Zeus, Zeus, Zeus…'You will fight alongside me, with me, until the last moment, until the last breath leaves your body?' he asked, again addressing only me. I nodded vigorously, then turned my eyes, mimicking his, toward Cronos on the opposite bank. 'Good. Do I have all of your pledges of allegiance to me?' he clarified. Every one of us let out a raucous, 'But of course!' and then we jumped into the water following glorious Zeus, even Hestia who hated water. We swam for all we were worth toward the opposite bank, toward our father and a victory we hoped was ensured.


	3. The Battle of the Titans

The Battle of the Titans

As soon as Cronos realized what we were trying to do, he let out a bellow so loud it made the earth tremble beneath us and a massive wave came crashing down to swallow us again, as it had when we were thrust out of our father's stomach. But not only were we prepared now, we also had Poseidon, who knew what to do this time. His arms flew into the air, fingertips pointing at the wave, and suddenly it was stopped in its tracks. Like a fickle dog it turned on the one who had created it, crashing toward Cronos. As it went the wave grew in size until it was bigger, taller than our father. Letting out another scream of rage, Cronos threw his arms over his head to protect himself much as I had done, and the wave washed over him. Falling into the water beside us, the splash Cronos made as he hit the water was enough to thrust his children apart. I was pushed away violently by the force of the water and as I hit the shore I also hit my head. It was enough to have me seeing stars, but not enough to make me give up. Swimming furiously, I backed away from the shore to see if I could find or help any of my siblings. There was Demeter, already on the shore. There was Hades beside her. There was Poseidon sending another wave crashing down on an approaching Atlas, and there was Hestia huddled beside Demeter and Hades. And Zeus?

I gave a little gasp of worry and starting swimming as fast as I could to where I saw ripples forming on the surface of the water, where I thought perhaps Zeus could be. When I got near the place I took as deep a breath as I could manage and plunged, keeping my peacock-blue eyes wide open so I could see my brother. And there he was: Cronos had been forced by the current to go underneath the water as I was now doing willingly, but he was not going to go down easily. In his hand he clutched a squirming Zeus, who he would take with him to the grave if he had to go himself. I managed to keep in the scream I knew would waste precious air as I watched Zeus struggle in our father's hold, and tried to recall his words. _'I think you should know, too, that we can't die,' _he had said. But then he had also mentioned that we could experience pain. And he was clearly in pain! _'We can experience pain and we can be hurt, but dying is out of our reach. So you have nothing to fear.'_ But there was something to fear! Quickly I went back to the surface to get some extra breath, and then dived once again, ignoring Demeter's shouts of, 'We're here, Hera, we're right here!'

I swam furiously toward Cronos, the tyrant, my father, who so mistreated his children. With strength that came from I-knew-not-where, I opened my mouth and a jet of…Water? Fire? Wind, more likely – erupted from it to send a jolt through Cronos's enclosed fist, in which he held Zeus. Stupid, thinking he could beat us, the Gods. And he would learn just how stupid it was. I repeated the action, this time using both my palms to send a mysterious power at Cronos, which jolted his wrist, managing to make it loosen every time. Finally he let out the bubbly howl of pain I knew must come and opened his fist, regretfully letting Zeus thrash his way out. Grabbing me around the waist as he had done the last time we were both in the water, my brother brought me back to the surface. Together our eyes looked toward the sun and together we took a spluttering breath. 'Thank you,' Zeus rasped, smiling a secret smile for me only. 'We're even.' I glowed.

Our strokes timed to the same rhythm, we reached our siblings on the shore as one being. Zeus leapt onto the dry land before I even had the chance to draw a shaky breath and held out an outstretched hand for me to grab on to, offering to help me up onto the embankment. 'Thank you,' I rasped, exhaustion from my strange feats wracking my body with shudders. But Zeus shook his head at me as I was finally seated at his feet, on the mercifully dry land.

'Don't thank me. It's I who has to thank you,' Zeus corrected me, blissfully naïve to the fact that my heart was beating three times faster than it ever had before. I wanted to reach up and- but at that moment a great roar interrupted everything as Cronos burst up and out of the water, raging. Demeter let out a scream as his giant fist crashed down nearly on top of her and darted away from the monstrosity, running behind a tree. Poseidon sent wave after wave against our father, but it didn't affect him and he simply let out a booming laugh. Demeter distracted Cronos while Hestia threw fire at him, but everything bounced off of him. Hades opened up the ground underneath him, creating an immense fissure, but he simply sidestepped it. I sent wave after wave of rippling gusts of wind, which seemed to sting him but do nothing more. And then Zeus stepped in. Hurling his biggest thunderbolt, he watched in satisfaction as it stuck into Cronos's head, between his eyes. Our father's eyes rolled upward and then…He was no more.

I could feel a change happening while I watched in horror, fascination and relief as our father sank beneath the waves. When I looked down I saw that the trees were suddenly smaller, the grass was further away…We had grown! We were bigger! How strange. My siblings and I were now equal in size to the other Titans running toward us. But there wasn't much time to ponder this new change as a burly male Titan launched himself at Poseidon with a booming roar. Demeter let out a shrill scream and threw herself to the side to avoid the Titan, while Hades sent his fist plummeting down to the earth and created a massive abyss into which the Titan hurtled head first with a cry of outrage and disbelief that he had been defeated so easily. Hades looked startled that he had overcome the much older Titan so easily as well, and looked down at his fist as though it were a lethal and uncontrollable weapon.

Again, there wasn't much time to congratulate our brother as a new Titan let out a war cry and rushed the pit with ferocity equal to that of a mad bull's. When the Titan reached the edge of the pit, he gave a tremendous leap and for one frightening moment, we all thought that he would make it over the gaping hole Hades had created and crush us. But in the moment before his foot touched the solid ground of the other side, something overcame me once again as the image of Zeus being crushed entered my head, and I softly but persistently blew on the palm of my hand, fingers outstretched toward the raging Titan. A huge gust of wind suddenly whistled down from somewhere in the mountains and gave the Titan a firm little push. There was a second scream of disbelief and frustration as the Titan fell, wailing, into the hole, pushed by a wind that I had created.

Zeus gazed at me with renewed wonder, but his eyes were soon directed to yet another Titan running toward us with a determined expression on his face, gangly legs propelling him forward at an alarming speed. Would he jump? If he dared try I would send the wind at him again, I thought angrily. But this Titan had learned from his brothers' mistakes. Instead of trying to leap over the abyss, he felled a tree and threw it over the pit, intending to use it as a bridge so that he could safely cross to our side and complete what his brothers had not been able to do. This time, there really was nothing we could do. That was what we all thought until the tree, with the Titan astride it, burst into flame. The fire crackled over the whole tree, consuming it and the Titan, and then devoured them both. The Titan and the tree crashed into the pit as one, this time with no sound but the crunching of the fire, as the Titan's voice was extinguished. I looked over at calm, dark Hestia and saw on her face the same look of surprise that had come across Hades' and my features when we had defeated the Titans. Her s feat had caught her by surprise as well.

There was a crash as one of the remaining male Titans lumbered heavily toward the pit, but he didn't seem to want to attack us as his three brothers had. Instead, the Titan raised his hands high and declared, 'I am Coeüs. After seeing my brothers defeated, I wish to inform you that the rest of us will not fall like them. Give it up, Zeus, before all of you are defeated. It would be wisest if-' there was a cry of pain and a singed spot appeared near the middle of Coeüs's chest. Zeus picked up another thunderbolt and hurled it at the Titan. He threw thunderbolt after thunderbolt until the Titan plummeted into the dark recesses of the pit along with his three other brothers. Zeus smiled at us grimly, fingering another thunderbolt. He did not look taken by surprise.

'The same fate awaits the rest of you. Care to challenge me after seeing your brothers and nephews dealt with this way? I think you would be wisest to-' Zeus, like the threatening Titan, was interrupted and the rest of his words drowned in a cacophony of angry voices erupting from the remaining Titans, the children of Gaea and Uranus as well as those of the Titans. Four Titans rushed us at once, leaping hand in hand over the crevice, letting out threatening war cries as they leaped. One was bound to make it across. I covered my face with my hands, knowing that sending a wind would not help. Zeus's thunderbolt was not fast enough, and in any case it rebounded off a tree and did not strike the four leaping Titans. Demeter screamed again and scuttled behind her tree, weeping. Hades gazed in disbelief as the first Titan made it to our side while Hestia gave a gasp of dismay. But one of us was wiser.

Poseidon let out his own shout of war and, gesticulating with his large hands, he directed a wave from behind us and brought it crashing down on the approaching Titans. They were swept away from us and into the pit. Zeus clapped our brother on the back appreciatively, and we were all glad that one in our midst had kept his head in the crisis. But the Titans were not going to give up hope. Silently this time, while we were congratulating Poseidon and calming ourselves down, three of them sneaked onto our side by going around the pit, unseen and unheard by us. There was a shout of victory and Demeter gave a shrill scream as she was picked up roughly by one of the three smarter Titans, wriggling helplessly in his grasp. Raising my sister above his head triumphantly, the Titan, a little taller than us still, leered down at Zeus. 'You want the pretty back?' he asked in a raspy, unpleasant voice. I shuddered from head to foot and wanted to snatch Demeter back from him. 'This one will be brought with us for our personal use if you do not surrender now, impertinent ones. Give up to us and she will be returned, unscathed. Or almost unharmed, that is.' The unpleasant Titan cackled with a terrible, shuddery laughter, fused together with the other two's. Demeter wriggled and squirmed as best she could, shouting and beating the Titan's shoulder, but she could not get free.

Suddenly, Demeter burst into tears. 'I've always been useless to you,' she confessed, trying to address us while slung over the Titan's shoulder. 'But I couldn't do anything useful. I tried and all I could do was hide and scream. And now I'm worse than useless, I'm being used against you by the Titans! Don't give up. Let them use me as they will,' she declared bravely, trying to pry her hands at least, loose, if not the rest of her. The Titan holding on to my sister let out another hoarse cackle of laughter and started making fun of her. I clenched my fists to keep from letting my winds whip him, which would have certainly been harmful toward Demeter. We were all standing there wondering what to do when one of the three Titans that had gotten successfully over the abyss wordlessly thumped to the ground. When we looked over at him, we saw with surprise that he was covered in vines, completely tied up and unable to move. The second Titan fell beside his brother, meeting the same fate of being tied up with strong grape vines. Now there was only the Titan holding on to Demeter, his pupils large with rage. He squeezed Demeter harder, and she gave a shout of pain but continued twisting and winding her vines up his legs, locking them together, and then managed to capture his arms in them as well. When the Titan was forced to stay in one position by Demeter's clever vines, she loosened those around herself and slipped out of his hold with relief. We all stepped forward and helped her push the three Titans into the pit.

'Do you give up now, or do you still believe you can defeat us after every one of us has shown our worth by defeating at least one of you? Come forward and you shall not be as harshly punished as your brothers, nephews, sons, cousins, fathers and uncles. Give up to us, the…the…' Zeus hesitated at what to call our little group. His brave and firm speech faltered, until my own melodious voice chimed in, words rising to my tongue unbidden but welcome. And I said strongly, not knowing where it came from,

'Give up to us, the Olympians.' Zeus stared at me in disbelief, and then a grin broke over his handsome features as he silently acknowledged my help.

'Yes. Give up to the Olympians and you shall not be as harshly punished as your foolish relatives. Give up. Come forward now. Drop your weapons.' The war was won. We, the Olympians, were the Supreme Rulers.


End file.
